Market research: Which platforms to support

[Volker Annuss]

There has not been a public Arminius release for almost 2 years now. I‘ll release a new version soon.

Arminius started as a windows engine but has been developed under Linux the last years. I still have Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and I can still build Windows versions but since I started to use C++11 and later, it has become increasingly difficult for me to support Windows.

I have absolutely no expirience with developing for Android and iOS, but I‘d like to see how much interest there is for these platforms.

Arminius also runs on a Raspberry Pi, normally with OpenSuse 64 Bit on HGM‘s ICS. I have not touched my SD card with Raspbian 32 Bit for a long time but is should be easy to make a version for it.

I voted for Linux x64 with popcount for my own testing and for Linux ARM 32 Bit because I‘d like to see a Raspberry League.
Edit: I did not vote. It looks like votes for my own poll are not counted.

[tmokonen]

Hmm, I submitted a vote, but when I went to click on View results it told me all options had 0 votes so far.

[Sven]

Hmm, I submitted a vote, but when I went to click on View results it told me all options had 0 votes so far.

Same problem here.

[Ras]

Windows can be served via MingW/GCC, so that would get VS out of the way.

Android is pretty easy via the Android NDK (native development kit) using Clang, at least once you have muddled through the compiler setup. The programming model is mostly like any Linux except for some corner cases with older Android versions (monotonic clock in pthread conditions) and really small default hash tables (under 10 MB). The NDK is available for Linux. If your engine is CECP, "Chess for Android" will work as GUI. With UCI, Droidfish is also possible. Installation without app store is easy if the GUI is already installed.

Raspi is possible with native compilation.

iOS will be a rough ride for several reasons:

1) iOS allows only distribution via app store, and the amount of jail broken devices is low.
2) App store means you have to pay a 100 EUR annually to Apple.
3) The usual engine/GUI pair as separate programs is not possible. iOS can technically do it, but apps that can start other programs will not pass Apple's review and not be allowed in the app store.
4) You will need a Mac for development or fumble around with a VM/Hackintosh and hope it works.
5) If you want to use the GPL as licence, the app store is not compatible. Also, you cannot use GPL'ed GUIs because only their authors can dual-licence for iOS.

[AdminX]

All of the above, Plus DGT Clock & Boards

[Volker Annuss]

Sorry, polls don't work.

[MikeB]

my vote would be for macOS which is not listed...

For the McCain downloads, Linux and macOS are about 10% each , the rest are windows of all flavors. Both 32 bit Windows and Linux are now down to about 3% each. Modern ( with Popcnt) is by far the most popular , but bmi2 has been making significant strides.

[Volker Annuss]

Thank you for the numbers, Mike.

It's strange, that there are some votes now, while others (including me) can't vote.